Workspaces
A Workspace is a coordinate system in the Robot's environment — a table, a fixture, the inside of a machine. Defining one lets a Flow's movements follow that object when it moves, instead of being pinned to the Robot's base.
For the concept, the three-point definition and how calibration works, see Workspaces. This page covers the configuration tab.
What a Workspace entry contains
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name | How the Workspace is identified when you select it in a Reference Group |
| Initial Positions | The three taught Positions that define the Workspace |
| Calibrated Positions | The same three Positions re-taught later, from which the transformation is derived |
| Variable | An optional Cartesian Pose Variable that receives the resulting transformation |
| Initial position locked | Protects the Initial Positions from being overwritten |
The three Positions are not interchangeable: the first is the origin, the second sets the direction of the x-axis, and the third sets the direction of the y-axis.
Managing Workspaces
Use Add Workspace to create an entry. Entries are reorderable and fall back to Workspace 1,
Workspace 2 and so on if unnamed.
Selecting a Workspace previews it in 3D, which is the quickest way to confirm you taught the three Positions in the intended order — a Workspace with the x- and y-points swapped previews visibly rotated.
Locking the Initial Positions
Once a Workspace is defined, lock its Initial Positions. Calibration only ever re-teaches the Calibrated Positions; the Initial Positions are the reference everything is measured against, and overwriting them silently invalidates every pose taught in that Workspace.
Re-teaching the Initial Positions is not the same as calibrating. If the table moved, calibrate — re-teach the Calibrated Positions. Re-teaching the Initial Positions instead redefines the Workspace, and the transformation for every existing movement in it changes with no warning.
Storing the transformation in a Variable
A Workspace can write the transformation between its Initial and Calibrated Positions into a Cartesian Pose Variable. From there a Flow can use it for its own purposes — logging how far a fixture has drifted, or applying the same correction to something RobFlow does not transform automatically.
Using a Workspace in a Flow
Apply a Workspace with a Reference Group: select the Workspace on the group, and place inside it every Node that should follow it.
Only Cartesian Movements are transformed by a Workspace. Path Movements and Joint Movements are not. A Reference Group containing a Joint Movement will not move that movement when the Workspace is calibrated — which is easy to miss, because the group looks like it applies to everything inside it.